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The Morning Skate: A New Isles Coach? A New Euro League? Ever? Never?

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The Morning Skate: A New Isles Coach? A New Euro League? Ever? Never?

By Stu Hackel August 10, 2008 1:29 pmAugust 10, 2008 1:29 pm

Greg Logan reports in Newsday today that the Isles coaching search is down to three names — former Atlanta coach Bob Hartley, former Toronto coach Paul Maurice and current AHL Providence coach Scott Gordon.

Both Hartley and Maurice have a previous connection with Snow, having coached him at one time.

But of the three, the only one about whom any information on the interview has leaked out is Gordon.

That July 30 interview was said to go “extremely well,” and that — combined with GM Garth Snow’s stated goal to hire a coach to be a long-term partner who will work with him in developing the Islanders’ young prospects and continuing to build through the draft — has led the hockey blogosphere to speculate that Gordon, who was named AHL Coach of the Year this spring, will be the guy.

Veteran coaches like Hartley and Maurice who have recently been associated with losing teams might not function effectively in a situation like the Isles’, where winning now is less important than developing a team to win consistently in the future.

Logan believes Snow will have a decision this week. Here’s Gordon’s bio on the Providence Bruins web site. Read it quick. The link may not be there long.

Euro Tourneys: In a game billed as a showdown between high-profile KHL stars Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Radulov, Jagr’s Avangard Omsk team won the pre-season Bashkortostan President’s Cup tournament in Ufa today, defeating hometown Salavat Yulaev 3-2 in overtime on a Pavel Rosa goal.

Rosa, who played parts of three seasons with the Kings but who has been a star in Russia for the last couple of years, also scored his team’s first goal, set up by Jagr for JJ’s only point of the game. Salavat’s Radulov was held pointless in the contest that was described by Sovietsky Sport as a “beautiful and fantastic match.”

There are numerous other pre-season tournaments in Europe this time of year and one of the more interesting is the Nordic Trophy, a monthlong competition with top teams from Sweden and Finland. The tournament’s web site (in English!) is here.

The first weekend of competition concluded today, and after three games the Swedish club Linköpings HC is undefeated and leading the pack, with the the competition’s top scorer (four goals, one assist) being ex-Panther Eric Beaudoin of Linköpings, once a draft pick of the Lightning.

Ex-NHL goalie (Rangers, Lightning, Stars) Johan Holmqvist had a 31-save shutout in his only game played so far for his new Swedish team, Frölunda Indians.

This tournament, now in its third season, has potentially set the stage for the formation of a Nordic league which would include five teams from both the Swedish Elitserien and the Finnish SM-liiga, and possibly one club each from Norway and Denmark as well.

On the web site Eurohockey.com, Timo Savela has an article today on the potential for just such a league and the serious issues inherent in its formation. He also names some of the teams that have expressed interest in it and those who have not.

“Why are the Finnish and Swedish teams planning a new multinational league?” Savela writes. “Bo Lennartsson, Färjestads BK’s Director of Development, states that the teams are looking into their options due to economic pressure. He states that the teams also fear turning into developmental teams in developmental leagues, while the NHL and the newly formed KHL function as proper hockey leagues.”

Such a development would, of course, throw the Elitserien and SM-liiga into chaos, if not destroy them.

Savela reports, “Kalervo Kummola, the Vice President of IIHF and the president of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, claims that the plan is doomed and that IIHF would ban the member teams from international competitions.

“One thing is clear: it is speculative whether a Nordic League will be formed in the near future. However, the possibility of this happening is now probably the highest as NHL and KHL teams pump more money into luring players. The sheer economic pressure is forcing the Scandinavian teams to weigh their options. A new cross league between the Finnish and Swedish top teams might get more media attention, more big sponsors and a better television contract.”

But he wonders how fans will react, if fans of Swedish teams, for example, will bother watching games against unfamiliar Finish competition in the place of those longtime rival Swedish teams who might not be part of a breakaway Nordic League. “Will new sponsors keep supporting the league if no one will see their advertisements?”

Skating Around: Yesterday, we overlooked mentioning one additional Southern California paper that covered the 20th anniversary of the Wayne Gretzky trade — Jim Alexander, blogging in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, posted a good-sized item with video and lengthy Gretz quotes and added this very salient fact on Gretzky’s impact: “Three California-born players have been selected in each of the last two NHL drafts, including Mitch Wahl of Long Beach (48th overall to Calgary), Max Nicastro of Thousand Oaks (91st overall to Detroit) and Colin Long of Santa Ana (99th to Phoenix) this past June.”

Wild GM Doug Risebrough travels to Slovakia this week, as do many for the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Under-18 tournament in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Risebrough may have some additional business, however; John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press says he’d like to sit down with Marian Gaborik and start talking about a contract extension. The team hopes that gets done before the start of the season.

And finally, Matty Norström, the Rangers castoff who became a captain and rugged force (Jeez, how unusual for a Rangers castoff) on the Kings blue line before finishing his career after last season in Dallas, can’t seem to shake stories that he’ll make a comeback. First, the Kings asked him to return for one final season as they look to add an experienced defensemen to their roster, and he turned them down. And then, back home in Sweden, the rumors flew that Norström would return to play for AIK after Christmas and that his wife Kristin phoned AIK’s GM Anders Gozzi because he was restless around the house. So, Stockholm City hockey reporter Marie Hallman, hearing the rumors, phoned Norström, who denied he was thinking about a comeback (“I just want to take a new step, do something else in my life”) and added, “If there is anything I can guarantee, it is that my wife has NOT has been calling Gozzi. She would NEVER do such a thing. NEVER!”

A slow, summer, dog day thank you to Stu and the rest of the Slapshot crew for what has become in breathtaking short time the leading hockey blog in the -sphere. Dang, I’m 54, but I can really talk the talk, eh?

More substantively, Gordon or Maurice (who is an exceptional guy used to working with sow’s ears) would be OK on the Island. Hartley….no.

I can’t even think about the Rangers, fearful as I am that Wade Redden is a $6.8 million Tom Poti in waiting. —

Probbsie – Glad to get your dawgs walkin’ and be the recipient of your talkin’ the talk. You and Avery both worry about Redden, so you’re hangin’ with a youngster there, too. As Zimmy says, may you stay forever young. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TLygQpSiyU

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